🔓 El 80º cumpleaños de la princesa Marion d'Orléans, condesa viuda de La Marche

Thibaut, Marion y Robert. Foto (c) Micheline PELLETIER/Gamma-Rapho vía Getty Images.

Hoy, la princesa Marion d'Orléans, condesa viuda de La Marche, celebra su octogésimo cumpleaños.

Nacida el 4 de septiembre de 1942 en Santiago de Chile, Marion Mercedes Gordon-Orr fue hija única de James Gordon-Orr (1894-1973), ingeniero, y Gertrude  Mercedes  Devia Hermosilla (1914-2003). Los abuelos paternos de Marion fueron Alexander Orr (1838-1919) y Clara Eliza Gordon (1858-1947). 

Thibaut y Marion poco antes de su boda, 1972.

En 1968, Marion conoció al príncipe Thibaut d'Orléans, el hijo menor del príncipe Enrique y la princesa Isabel, condes de París. En ese momento, Marion trabajaba como intérprete en París para una empresa estadounidense. 

Thibaut y Marion.

Los recién casados.

El 23 de septiembre de 1972, en Edimburgo, Marion Gordon-Orr, de treinta años, se casó con el príncipe Thibaut, de veinticuatro. La pareja real celebró su enlace religioso en la capilla privada del cardenal Gray, arzobispo de St. Andrews y Edimburgo. En aquel momento, su unión no fue del agrado del padre del novio, y el conde de París prohibió a todos los miembros de la familia asistir a la boda. La hermana de Thibaut, la princesa Claude, entonces todavía duquesa de Aosta, fue la única de sus hermanas que se opuso a los deseos del patriarca de Orleans, y estuvo presente para celebrar las nupcias de Thibaut y Marion. 

Durante su matrimonio, Thibaut y Marion viajaron mucho. Visitaron Perú, Colombia y Chile, donde nació Marion. En Marion, Thibaut encontró un alma que compartía su amor por el descubrimiento de pueblos menos conocidos y sus culturas. Entre 1973 y 1974, la pareja escribió seis libros de la  serie Les Princes du sang  ; estos libros detallaban el destino de una familia principesca alemana ficticia. El primero de estos libros se publicó en inglés con el título  A Castle in Bavaria . 

Marion, Thibaut y su hijo mayor, Robert.

Prince Thibaut and Princess Marion had two children, both sons and both born while Thibaut and Marion were staying with her mother in Edinburgh. Prince Robert d’Orléans arrived on 6 September 1976; Robert’s godparents are Viscount Paul de La Panouse, one of his parents’ dearest friends, as well as his aunt Princess Claude, Duchess of Aosta. Robert’s birth led to a reconciliation between his father Thibaut and his grandfather Henri. Three years later, the family was completed by the birth of Louis-Philippe on 18 April 1979; his godparents were Count Charles of Bourbon-Busset and the infant’s grandmother Madame the Countess of Paris. Tragically, eight-month-old Louis-Philippe died on 2 January 1980 from sepsis. The sudden and unexpected loss of Louis-Philippe, coupled with the brutally insensitive decision of his grandfather the Count of Paris that the young child could not be buried in the Chapel Royal of Dreux as he was not a dynast, was a blow to Thibaut and Marion. 

The Count and Countess de La Marche, 28 June 1981. Photo (c) AKSARAN/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.

In the months following his son’s funeral, Thibaut d’Orléans was imprisoned for eighteen months for complicity in the theft of works of art. The case caused a stir and the problems of the Count and Countess of La Marche made the way to the front page of many French newspapers. Thibaut was tied with an attempt to steal works of art by Suzanne Courty.

Marion with her son Robert at the funeral of her husband Thibaut, 1983. Photo (c) Getty Images / Alain Mingam.

After his release from prison, the Count of la Marche left France to organise safaris for tourists in the Central African Republic. Marion and their son Robert remained in France. On 23 March 1983, Prince Thibaut died at hospital in Bangui, in circumstances that have been considered by some to be mysterious. The prince was thirty-five years-old when he died. Thibaut’s funeral was attended by most of the Royal Family of France; even the separated Count and Countess of Clermont and divorced Princess Claude and Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, came together to support Marion and her son Robert. 

Marion and Thibaut in Paris, 1977. Photo (c) AGIP / Bridgeman Images.

After the death of her husband, Princess Marion focused on the upbringing of their only surviving son, Robert. In 1999, after her brother-in-law Prince Henri succeeded as Head of the Royal House of France, Henri retroactively recognised Thibaut and Marion’s marriage and, in doing so, Henri declared that their son Robert is a dynastic member of the royal house. Princess Marion lives discretely and quietly; however, on occasion, one can still spot her attending Orléans family functions. 

May Princess Marion be blessed with a very happy birthday!